Tag Archives: water’s edge restaurant

SO, The New York Times released a hatchet job on Mayor de Blasio and his supposed tinkering on behalf of the Water’s Edge restaurant. While I’m not overly interested in the he said/she said of it all, I did enjoy the follow-up article that delved into greater detail about the restaurant’s history, dating back to 1980. Equally intriguing from a historical culinary standpoint was the link to the NYT restaurant review by Bryan Miller in 1992, which like all the paper’s restaurant reviews back then were categorized under ‘Arts.’

As most readers already know, what does interest me in regards to the Water’s Edge, is the future of it. Today’s NYT ode to the Water’s Edge reiterates in equally vague terms as I did last month that the “agency [EDC] will soon select the developer.” Hopefully there will be no meddling from above and the one they select will be based on the objective criteria that best suits Long Island City.

//RESTAURANT news is aplenty, or maybe not as seen in the stories below. Pulling one nugget, Continue reading →

Like this:

The New York Times published a wistful article about the residential build-up along the waterfront, and how it’s replacing industry. In other words, gentrification NYC-style.

Of greatest relevance to us here in LIC, were the details that were revealed about the “Waters Edge” project and the extent of the zoning variance that the de Blasio administration is looking to grant to developers. Summing it up:

“In place of a parking lot, a pier and Transportation Department facility, developers could build two to three towers between 350 and 500 feet tall. If bidders include additional commercial and manufacturing space, they could add an extra 150 feet to the new buildings.”

Thus the tallest of these towers could be 650 feet tall, or roughly 60 stories – more than 50% higher than the tallest building currently on Center Boulevard. That would Continue reading →

The NYC EDC has put out a request-for-proposal (RFP) to develop the land currently occupied by the Water’s Edge Restaurant and the adjacent parking lot along the East River, as well as a long thin lot across the street on the south side of 44th Drive. In total, it’s about 4.5 acres, with the choice river front property about 75% of that total once one includes the possibility of reclaiming, via landfill, a portion of the lot that’s currently underwater.

The city’s RFP makes it clear that they want the developer to think big and ignore the current zoning restrictions1, and while paying lip service to including space for light manufacturing, heavily emphasizes the desire for affordable housing, on the magnitude of ~1,000 new apartments. Also, it begs the question: now that the city has shown their hand and a willingness to quickly change zoning in this specific neighborhood, does that mean the Paragon Paint Building should be given an exemption, as the previous complaint against doing so per Community Board 2 was that a comprehensive plan was needed?